Pakistan has demanded Afghanistan hand over Pakistani Taliban leader Maulvi Faqir Muhamad to Islamabad and also take effective measures on its side of the border to dismantle the hideouts of Maulvi Fazlullah-led Swat Taliban.
The two vital demands were conveyed to Afghan President Hamid Karzai recently in Brussels where he held crucial talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani.
Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani also attended the trilateral meeting hosted by the US secretary of state to help Islamabad and Kabul do away with their differences on various matters, including the recent row over renovation work of a border gate carried out by Pakistan on its side of frontier in Mohmand agency.
According to diplomatic sources, General Kayani told Kerry and the Afghan leader that Pakistan was committed to help Afghanistan and international community in efforts aimed at bringing peace and stability to the neighbouring state.
However, they said Kayani also spoke about cross-border militant attacks on Pakistani army posts in Dir, Chitral and Bajaur by militants led by Fazlullah, who had taken refuge in Kunar and Nuristan provinces of Afghanistan.
“General Kayani asked for an effective operation against the Pakistani Taliban hiding on the Afghan side of the shared border and said the hideouts of these terrorists should be eliminated by the Afghan security forces,” said a source said seeking anonymity.
He said during the Brussels’ meeting, Pakistani side also asked for handing over Pakistani Taliban leader Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, who was arrested in Afghanistan.
Pakistan also talked about the negative role that some pro-India Afghan officials were playing in fomenting anti-Islamabad feelings in Kabul, he said.
Another source privy to the talks in Brussels said on condition of anonymity that the Afghan president also raised the issue of alleged shelling by Pakistani border troops across the border in Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan.
“Nonetheless, he said the Afghan leader was told by the Pakistani delegation that Pakistan’s border troops only retaliated when militants carried out cross border attacks from Afghanistan in Pakistani regions and it was baseless to say that Afghan civilians were being targeted in any shelling,” he said.
He said President Karzai also demanded the resumption of release of Taliban leaders by Pakistan, especially that of key insurgent leader and Taliban number two, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, so that the Taliban could be brought to the table of negotiations.
A Pakistani official said on condition of anonymity that Islamabad was willing to improve its relations with Kabul and all possible steps would be taken for that.
On the release of remaining Taliban leaders currently in Pakistani custody, he said every measure that helped in restoration of peace in Afghanistan and assisted in pushing forward the “Afghanistan reconciliation process” would be taken by Islamabad.
He also denied that there was any link in the release of Taliban prisoners and handing over of Maulvi Faqir Muhammad by Kabul, saying it was not a ‘quid pro quo’ and freeing the Taliban detainees was only a matter of schedule.
really ????From where you get this audacity to put up demands when all internationally acclaimed terrorist outfits are your charity organizations and terrorists are your national heroes?????? who is biggest terrorist than you ????
What nonsense, get past your prejudices and read Congress' report about I Dian Army torture and killings in Kashmir. I suppose, in you book that is alive in.
About time someone gave it to Karzai, the double dealing brother of a drug lord.
Ajaz Haque, This is but true that most terrorists had links in Pakistan (were either Pakistanis or took refuge there or had hatched conspiracies) and had taken refuge there. Pak establishment first denies, then concedes and then calls them non state actors who are beyond their control.
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